UChicago 2018.

70% of the Earth is covered by water. Water that we see rushing by, swept up in currents and tides, a force of nature capable of destroying entire cities.

Instead of allowing the world’s rivers and oceans to become natural disasters, it has become necessary to convert this abundant resource into a cheap and readily available source of energy for our planet. By damming rivers and capturing even a fraction of the water that flows by, an enormous amount of kinetic energy can be converted into mechanical energy, spinning giant turbines that then act as generators. The same principle is responsible for the entire electrical supply of Las Vegas, coming from the Hoover Dam.

By taking advantage of the hundreds of thousands of rivers on the planet, enough energy could be reliably harvested to care for tens or hundreds of million. In addition to, and maybe even dwarfing the river potential is that of the oceans. By placing a multitude of small tidal stream generators by the coastline, the tidal differential between high and low tide will constantly provide the necessary force to spin a turbine, which can also be used as a generator.

Because of the billions of kilograms of water on the Earth, its force-provide potential is very great. By harnessing even a small fraction of that force, it would be possible to adequately provide for humanity’s electrical power needs using only a natural resource that would be practically untouched even after harvesting.